Basketball Ides of March

[WJMorris3]

In just six days, the pairings will be announced for the 2005 NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments. In honor of this event, I present Henry V. Porter's "Basketball Ides of March", written about the Illinois state basketball tournament in 1942.

Basketball Ides of March

The gym lights gleam like a beacon beam

And a million motors hum

In a good will flight on a Friday night;

For basketball beckons, "Come!"

A sharp-shooting mite is king tonight.

The Madness of March is running.

The winged feet fly, the ball sails high

And field goal hunters are gunning.

The colors clash as silk suits flash

And race on a shimmering floor.

Repressions die, and partisans vie

In a goal acclaiming roar.

On a Championship Trail toward a holy grail,

All fans are birds of a feather.

It's fiesta night and cares lie light

When the air is full of leather.

Since time began, the instincts of man

Prove cave and current men kin.

On tournament night the sage and the wight

Are relatives under the skin.

It's festival time, sans reason or rhyme

But with nation-wide appeal.

In a cyclone of hate, our ship of state

Rides high on an even keel.

With war nerves tense, the final defense

Is the courage, strength and will

In a million lives where freedom thrives

And liberty lingers still.

Now eagles fly and heroes die

Beneath some foreign arch

Let their sons tread where hate is dead

In a happy Madness of March.